iWork for iCloud updated, but still doesn’t support folders

I know I am old-fashioned, but I really can’t conceive how Apple believes that iCloud will be really usable without a folder setup for documents. The premise that I want to share documents one-by-one with coworkers rather than project-related folders is just a non-starter, and keeping all my Pages docs in one folder and all my Numbers docs in another is simply annoying.

So when I read that Apple was going to add new design and sharing options for iCloud I had hopes. They are dashed: no folders.

The Pages, Numbers, and Keynote apps are being updated:

new Retina display support

an updated editor expeience

and improved sharing — you can now share documents for viewing only, if you’d like.

Keynote will (finally) support editing of charts from imported files, like from Numbers. Numbers has improved pop-up menus, and Pages has gained new templates, better text wrapping, and the same ability to edit imported charts.

The iCloud version have updated, and the iOS and OS X updates will be coming later on today.

The Bottom Line

Not nearly enough to get me to stop using Google Drive, even though I can only edit in the cloud. And of course Microsoft has changed everything with the recent release of free Office for iPad, so long as an Office 365 account is set up (see Office comes to the iPad, at last) destablizes the advantages that APple had on the iPad.

Someday soon, I expect we will have an apples-to-apples comparison, when the following happens:

Apple develops a real folder model for iCloud, and the ability to sync-and-share files like Google Drive or Microsoft OneDrive.

Google will finally release apps that support editing of Google documents natively on iOS, OS X, and Android (currently Quickoffice works on Microsoft Office docs, not Google doc formats, and only on Android and iOS).

Microsoft will relax the requirement for a paid introductory Office 365 account to be able to edit docs. Oh, and they’ll add the ability to print (d’uh!).

By that time — late 2014? — we will likely be seeing the competition heating up with doc editing capabilities from Dropbox, Box, and other file sync-and-share competitors.

At the present, I find the Google Drive solution most practical for my everyday work. I have yet to spend any time the the iPad apps from Microsoft, but I know that people with a real investment in Office on Windows, Office 365, or Sharepoint will likely find the new Office offerings very attractive. Although it’s hard to argue with free.